The present invention relates to novel substituted naphthalene-2-yl acetic acids, their manufacture, pharmaceutical compositions containing them and their use as CRTH2 antagonists or partial agonists.
Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) is the major prostanoid produced by activated mast cells and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases such as allergic asthma and atopic dermatitis. Chemoattractant Receptor-homologous molecule expressed on T-helper type cells (CRTH2) is one of the prostaglandin D2 receptors and is expressed on the effector cells involved in allergic inflammation such as T helper type 2 (Th2) cells, eosinophils, and basophils (Nagata et al., FEBS Lett 459: 195-199, 1999). It has been shown to mediate PGD2-stimulated chemotaxis of Th2 cells, eosinophils, and basophils (Hirai et al., J Exp Med 193: 255-261, 2001). Moreover, CRTH2 mediates the respiratory burst and degranulation of eosinophils (Gervais et al., J Allergy Clin Immunol 108: 982-988, 2001), induces the production of proinflammatory cytokines in Th2 cells (Xue et al., J Immunol 175: 6531-6536), and enhances the release of histamine from basophils (Yoshimura-Uchiyama et al., Clin Exp Allergy 34:1283-1290). Sequence variants of the gene encoding CRTH2, which differentially influence its mRNA stability, are shown to be associated with asthma (Huang et al., Hum Mol Genet 13, 2691-2697, 2004). Increased numbers of circulating T cells expressing CRTH2 have also been correlated with severity of atopic dermatitis (Cosmi et al., Eur J Immunol 30, 2972-2979, 2000). These findings suggest that CRTH2 plays a proinflammatory role in allergic diseases. Therefore, antagonists or partial agonists of CRTH2 are believed to be useful for treating disorders such as asthma, allergic inflammation, COPD, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis.